We started writing a book and building this website to create an avenue for interested, engaged, socially conscious, smart, achievement oriented, and very, very tired women, like yourself, to be able to share their thoughts on a host of topics from work to raising a family, from marriage to finding time for ourselves (we know, we know, who has the time?). While it may be a crowded bookshelf, we have not found one book that engages ordinary (yet incredible) women in real talk and that appeals to us all, putting aside the choices we've made.


Shari Berman lives in Central, New Jersey with her husband, three sons and daughter.  When not shuffling her kids from acting to soccer practice, orchestra rehearsal to bar mitzvah prep, gymnastics to the ice skating rink, reviewing homework or running her son into NYC for an audition, coordinating a charity event or volunteering in one of her kids' three schools, and wondering “how she does it?” she can be found in her home office researching and writing RX for Real Women:  Positive Selfishness (because all of this leaning in and out has left us bent and contorted) or interviewing fabulous women for the Focus on a Real Woman Talking section of the website.  After graduating from Emory Law School, she left the Peach State for the Big Apple and worked in a mid-size New York City law firm, where she had the privilege of working with some female partners who she applauds for putting some dents in the glass ceiling.  She enjoyed working for seven years as Assistant General Counsel for fashion-house Kenneth Cole Productions, a company whose blend of fashion with social activism she admired. Soon after the birth of her daughter, she left KCP to spend more time with her children – a thoroughly exhausting job, but one she remains most proud of.  Between her law firm and in-house years and having done the full-time, part-time and stay-at-home-mom thing, she feels uniquely qualified to serve as a moderator in this dialogue on modern motherhood.  Shari received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University (along with her fellow classmate, co-author and substantial part of her “village”) and graduated with distinction from Emory University School of Law. Shari enjoys reading, traveling, entertaining, spending time outdoors, and hanging out with her family on rare, lazy mornings.  If given an hour to practice Positive Selfishness, she can usually be found going for a run or walk, playing tennis, taking a bar method class or enjoying an iced decaffeinated soy latte while catching up with one of the many women in her “village.”


Jennifer Finkelstein is the mother of 11-year old twin boys: a blue-eyed boy and a brown eyed boy. She lives outside of Philadelphia, near where she was born and raised and close to her “village.” She works as a full-time psychotherapist: providing therapy, clinical assessments, crisis intervention, and presentations to employees, in both the federal and private sector. Over the past decade, Jennifer has seen hundreds of women struggling with work/life balance and issues related to “having it all” while also mothering. This recurring theme inspired Jennifer to focus on the issues facing mothers today as they try to “do it all,” and “have it all,” without losing their minds. Jennifer, in her daily clinical work,  teaches women how to adopt the mantra Positive Selfishness, and how to overcome various obstacles, both practical and emotional ones, that stand in their way of self-care. Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University (where she met her dear friend and co-author), and graduated with a Masters degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Employee Assistance Professional and enjoys speaking on various wellness topics, with her co-author, topics that are near and dear to her heart.